The ill-fated Mars Observer was lost just before Mars arrival in August 1993 while the Mars Climate Orbiter was lost in September 1999 when one engineering team thought metric while another figured in English units.

“This is a big mission for us,” said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. “It’s the most powerful suite of instruments ever sent to another planet.”

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can transmit data to earth (62 million miles away), at rates as high as 6 megabits per second, using its high-gain, 3-meter (10-foot) dish. That rate is ten times higher than previous Mars orbiters. Over its two-year primary science mission, the spacecraft is predicted to transmit more than 34 Terabits.

The orbiter’s radio operates in the X-band, around 8 Gigahertz. Two low-gain antennas are mounted on the high-gain antenna dish – one on the front side and one on the back — so that communication is possible at all times. The X-band radio (and backup) transmits 100 watts while a Ka-band radio transmits at 35 watts.

Also on board is Electra, a UHF telecommunications package that is one of the engineering instruments providing navigation and communications support to landers and rovers on the surface of Mars. Electra allows the spacecraft to act as a relay between the earth and landed crafts on Mars, which may not have sufficient radio power to communicate directly with earth.

During its two-year primary science mission, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will conduct eight different science investigations at Mars. The investigations are functionally divided into three purposes: global mapping, regional surveying, and high-resolution targeting of specific spots on the surface.

This instrument splits visible and near-infrared light of its images into hundreds of “colors” that identify minerals, especially those likely formed in the presence of water, in surface areas on Mars not much bigger than a football field.

This camera is being tested for improved navigation capability for future missions. If it performs well, similar cameras placed on orbiters of the future would be able to serve as high-precision interplanetary “eyes” to guide incoming spacecraft as they near Mars.

By tracking the orbiter in the primary science phase, team members will be able to map the gravity field or Mars to understand the geology of the surface and near-surface and the geophysical processes that produce these land features. For example, analysis could reveal how the planet’s mass is redistributed as the Martian polar caps form and dissipate seasonally.

Four years after NASA launched Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), the space agency hoped to extend the Internet to Mars by launching the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) in 2009.

MTO would arrive in a high orbit over Mars in 2010. From there, it would serve as an Internet hub, receiving a flood of science information as data packets from a growing fleet of Mars probes, orbiters, landers, rovers and science stations, and relaying them to Earth for as much as ten years.

NASA plans to launch Phoenix Mars Scout in 2007 to land on the far northern Martian surface. The space agency will launch the Mars Science Laboratory carrying an advanced in 2009.

MTO not only will send data to Earth via high-speed X-band and Ka-band radio signals, but also via laser light beams. That is expected to bring a tenfold increase in bandwidth.

Orbiting 3,000 miles above the Red Planet, MTO would be in contact with Earth around the clock. That high orbit is 20 times farther from the planet surface than other orbiters. From up there, it will have a direct line of sight to Earth.

While the optical communication signals arriving at Earth will be susceptible to blocking by clouds, they will be able to carry 10,000 times more data than microwave radio signals. MTO will be able to transmit the equivalent of three compact disks of data each day.